I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 998 

To establish the conditions under which the Secretary of Homeland Security 

may establish preclearance facilities, conduct preclearance operations, 

and provide customs services outside the United States, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2015 

Mr. MEEHAN (for himself, Mrs. MILLER of Michigan, Mr. COSTELLO of Pennsylvania, Mr. LANCE, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, and Mr. MCCAUL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To establish the conditions under which the Secretary of 

Homeland Security may establish preclearance facilities, 

conduct preclearance operations, and provide customs 

services outside the United States, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preclearance Author5 ization Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITION. 

2 In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com3 mittees’’ means the Committee on Homeland Security and 

4 the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Rep5 resentatives and the Committee on Homeland Security 

6 and Governmental Affairs and the Committee on Finance 

7 of the Senate. 

8 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF PRECLEARANCE OPERATIONS. 

9 Pursuant to section 1629 of title 19, United States 

10 Code, and subject to section 5, the Secretary of Homeland 

11 Security may establish U.S. Customs and Border Protec12 tion preclearance operations in a foreign country to— 

13 (1) prevent terrorists, instruments of terrorism, 

14 and other security threats from entering the United 

15 States; 

16 (2) prevent inadmissible persons from entering 

17 the United States; 

18 (3) ensure merchandise destined for the United 

19 States complies with applicable laws; 

20 (4) ensure the prompt processing of persons eli21 gible to travel to the United States; and 

22 (5) accomplish such other objectives as the Sec23 retary determines necessary to protect the United 

24 States. 


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1 SEC. 4. NOTIFICATION AND CERTIFICATION TO CONGRESS. 

2 (a) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 180 days before 

3 entering into an agreement with the government of a for4 eign country to establish U.S. Customs and Border Pro5 tection preclearance operations in such foreign country, 

6 the Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide to the 

7 appropriate congressional committees the following: 

8 (1) A copy of the proposed agreement to estab9 lish such preclearance operations, including an iden10 tification of the foreign country with which U.S. 

11 Customs and Border Protection intends to enter into 

12 a preclearance agreement, and the location at which 

13 such preclearance operations will be conducted. 

14 (2) An estimate of the date on which U.S. Cus15 toms and Border Protection intends to establish 

16 preclearance operations under such agreement. 

17 (3) The anticipated funding sources for 

18 preclearance operations under such agreement, and 

19 other funding sources considered. 

20 (4) An assessment of the impact such 

21 preclearance operations will have on legitimate trade 

22 and travel, including potential impacts on passengers 

23 traveling to the United States. 

24 (5) A homeland security threat assessment for 

25 the country in which such preclearance operations 

26 are to be established. 


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1 (6) An assessment of the impacts such 

2 preclearance operations will have on U.S. Customs 

3 and Border Protection domestic port of entry staff4 ing. 

5 (7) Information on potential economic, competi6 tive, and job impacts on United States air carriers 

7 associated with establishing such preclearance oper8 ations. 

9 (8) Information on the anticipated homeland se10 curity benefits associated with establishing such 

11 preclearance operations. 

12 (9) Information on potential security 

13 vulnerabilities associated with commencing such 

14 preclearance operations, and mitigation plans to ad15 dress such potential security vulnerabilities. 

16 (10) A U.S. Customs and Border Protection 

17 staffing model for such preclearance operations, and 

18 plans for how such positions would be filled. 

19 (11) Information on the anticipated costs over 

20 the next five fiscal years associated with com21 mencing such preclearance operations. 

22 (12) A copy of the agreement referred to in 

23 subsection (a) of section 5. 

24 (13) Other factors that the Secretary of Home25 land Security determines to be necessary for ConVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:56 Feb 26, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H998.IH H998

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1 gress to comprehensively assess the appropriateness 

2 of commencing such preclearance operations. 

3 (b) CERTIFICATIONS RELATING TO PRECLEARANCE

4 OPERATIONS ESTABLISHED AT AIRPORTS.—In the case of 

5 an airport, in addition to the notification requirements 

6 under subsection (a), not later than 90 days before enter7 ing into an agreement with the government of a foreign 

8 country to establish U.S. Customs and Border Protection 

9 preclearance operations at an airport in such foreign coun10 try, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide to 

11 the appropriate congressional committees the following: 

12 (1) A certification that preclearance operations 

13 under such preclearance agreement would provide 

14 homeland security benefits to the United States. 

15 (2) A certification that preclearance operations 

16 within such foreign country will be established under 

17 such agreement only if— 

18 (A) at least one United States passenger 

19 carrier operates at such airport; and 

20 (B) the access of all United States pas21 senger carriers to such preclearance operations 

22 is the same as the access of any non-United 

23 States passenger carrier. 

24 (3) A certification that the Secretary of Home25 land Security has considered alternative options to 


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1 preclearance operations and has determined that 

2 such options are not the most effective means of 

3 achieving the objectives specified in section 3. 

4 (4) A certification that the establishment of 

5 preclearance operations in such foreign country will 

6 not significantly increase customs processing times 

7 at United States airports. 

8 (5) An explanation of other objectives that will 

9 be served by the establishment of preclearance oper10 ations in such foreign country. 

11 (6) A certification that representatives from 

12 U.S. Customs and Border Protection consulted pub13 lically with interested parties, including providers of 

14 commercial air service in the United States, employ15 ees of such providers, security experts, and such 

16 other parties as the Secretary determines to be ap17 propriate, before entering into such an agreement 

18 with such foreign government. 

19 (7) A report detailing the basis for the certifi20 cations referred to in paragraphs (1) through (6). 

21 (c) MODIFICATION OF EXISTING AGREEMENTS.— 

22 Not later than 30 days before substantially modifying a 

23 preclearance agreement with the government of a foreign 

24 country in effect as of the date of the enactment of this 

25 Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide to 


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1 the appropriate congressional committees a copy of the 

2 proposed agreement, as modified, and the justification for 

3 such modification. 

4 (d) REMEDIATION PLAN.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner of U.S. 

6 Customs and Border Protection shall monthly meas7 ure the average customs processing time to enter the 

8 25 United States airports that support the highest 

9 volume of international travel (as determined by 

10 available Federal passenger data) and provide to the 

11 appropriate congressional committees such measure12 ments. 

13 (2) ASSESSMENT.—Based on the measurements 

14 described in paragraph (1), the Commissioner of 

15 U.S. Customs and Border Protection shall quarterly 

16 assess whether the average customs processing time 

17 referred to in such paragraph significantly exceeds 

18 the average customs processing time to enter the 

19 United States through a preclearance operation. 

20 (3) SUBMISSION.—Based on the assessment 

21 conducted under paragraph (2), if the Commissioner 

22 of U.S. Customs and Border Protection determines 

23 that the average customs processing time referred to 

24 in paragraph (1) significantly exceeds the average 

25 customs processing time to enter the United States 


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1 through a preclearance operation described in para2 graph (2), the Commissioner shall, not later than 60 

3 days after making such determination, provide to 

4 the appropriate congressional committees a remedi5 ation plan for reducing such average customs proc6 essing time referred to in paragraph (1). 

7 (4) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 30 days 

8 after submitting the remediation plan referred to in 

9 paragraph (3), the Commissioner of United States 

10 Customs and Border Protection shall implement 

11 those portions of such plan that can be carried out 

12 using existing resources, excluding the transfer of 

13 personnel. 

14 (5) SUSPENSION.—If the Commissioner of U.S. 

15 Customs and Border Protection does not submit the 

16 remediation plan referred to in paragraph (3) within 

17 60 days in accordance with such paragraph, the 

18 Commissioner may not, until such time as such re19 mediation plan is submitted, conduct any negotia20 tions relating to preclearance operations at an air21 port in any country or commence any such 

22 preclearance operations. 

23 (6) STAKEHOLDER RECOMMENDATIONS.—The 

24 remediation plan described in paragraph (3) shall 


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1 consider recommendations solicited from relevant 

2 stakeholders. 

3 (e) CLASSIFIED REPORT.—The assessment required 

4 pursuant to subsection (a)(5) and the report required pur5 suant to subsection (b)(7) may be submitted in classified 

6 form if the Secretary of Homeland Security determines 

7 that such is appropriate. 

8 SEC. 5. AVIATION SECURITY SCREENING AT 

9 PRECLEARANCE AIRPORTS. 

10 (a) AVIATION SECURITY STANDARDS AGREEMENT.— 

11 Prior to the commencement of preclearance operations at 

12 an airport in a foreign country under this Act, the Admin13 istrator of the Transportation Security Administration 

14 shall enter into an agreement with the government of such 

15 foreign country that delineates and requires the adoption 

16 of aviation security screening standards that are deter17 mined by the Administrator to be comparable to those of 

18 the United States. 

19 (b) AVIATION SECURITY RESCREENING.—If the Ad20 ministrator of the Transportation Security Administration 

21 determines that the government of a foreign country has 

22 not maintained security standards and protocols com23 parable to those of the United States at airports at which 

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1 section (a), the Administrator shall require the rescreening 

2 in the United States by the Transportation Security Ad3 ministration of passengers and their property before such 

4 passengers may deplane into sterile areas of airports in 

5 the United States. 

6 (c) SELECTEES.—Any passenger who is determined 

7 to be a selectee based on a check against a terrorist watch 

8 list and arrives on a flight originating from a foreign air9 port at which preclearance operations have been estab10 lished in accordance with an agreement entered into pur11 suant to subsection (a), shall be required to undergo secu12 rity rescreening by the Transportation Security Adminis13 tration before being permitted to board a domestic flight 

14 in the United States. 

15 SEC. 6. LOST AND STOLEN PASSPORTS. 

16 The Secretary of Homeland Security may not enter 

17 into or renew an agreement with the government of a for18 eign country to establish or maintain U.S. Customs and 

19 Border Protection preclearance operations at an airport 

20 in such foreign country unless such government certifies— 

21 (1) that it routinely submits information about 

22 lost and stolen passports of its citizens and nationals 

23 to INTERPOL’s Stolen and Lost Travel Document 

24 database; or 


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1 (2) makes available to the United States Gov2 ernment such information through another com3 parable means of reporting. 

4 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

5 Except for subsection (c) of section 4, this Act shall 

6 apply only to the establishment of preclearance operations 

7 in a foreign country in which no preclearance operations 

8 have been established as of the date of the enactment of 

9 this Act. 

Æ 


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